Penzance

Past and Present (1876) (part 5)

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Late in the evening on the 29th September, 1760, the town
was roused by the firing of guns in very close proximity, and
it proved that an Algerine Xebecque was stranded on the beach
to the west of the Battery. Several of the crew were drowned in
attempting to get on shore, and the remainder were put into the
Barbican cellar, where they were guarded by a volunteer
company, which obeyed the call to arms in the dead of night;
for since the strangers were each armed with scymetar and
pistols, a vague fear of Turkish ferocity, massacre, and
plunder, seized upon the inhabitants of Penzance, which only
gave place to fear of plague when it was discovered that the
men were Algerines, and they were compelled to perform
quarantine at the Folly.

In the same year opposition was made, at great expense, to
the Turnpike road being carried from Penryn through Penzance to
Land’s End, and it was stopped at Marazion.

At the Coronation of King George III. and Queen Charlotte
there were unusual rejoicings in Penzance. The following
account of the proceedings I find in the late Mr. Thomas
Giddy’s M.S.:—

“Morning
Procession.—The Independent Company, headed by Mr.
Walter Stone, three deep, with Mr. Jack Michell carrying a pair
of new silk colours in the middle; Mr. Michael Pearce, carrying
St. George’s flag adorned with flowers; six young
gentlemen with white rods, two fifes, two drums, two German
flutes, a French horn, and hautboy; the four constables with
their long poles in their right hands, and their short poles
slung with red ribbons over their left shoulders; the two
sergeants-at-mace, Mayor, Aldermen, Common Council, gentlemen
of the town and neighbourhood. The town crier with a white rod
closed the procession. When they came to the chapel yard the
Independents drew up on each side, from the stile to the great
door, for the procession to pass through, the music and
constables falling off each side as they came on; the six young
gentlemen with white rods walked into the chapel before the
Mayor, &c., when an excellent sermon was preached on the
occasion. After divine service was ended the procession
proceeded to the Battery, and after the cannon was fired they
proceeded to the Town hall in the same order, when “God
save Great George our King” was sung in grand chorus.
They then adjourned till four o’clock in the
afternoon.

“In the Afternoon.—At
four o’clock the fifes, drums, with the German flutes,
hautboy and French horn, with the six young gentlemen with
white rods, assembled at the Corn-market house, from whence the
proceeded to the Mayor’s house and waited on him, the
gentlemen, &c., to the Corn-market house, where they passed
through the Independents under arms with rested firelocks, into
the Town hall. Then the Independents, preceded by the drums,
fifes, and other music, marched into the Square opposite the
Town hall, and fired at every health toasted in the Town hall
upon a signal given from the window, and in the intervals the
music played.

“After the firing was over the Independents, preceded
by the music, marched again into the Corn-market house, when
“God save Great George our King” was sung in grand
chorus, with the music, &c. Then the Independents marched
in procession with colours, music, &c., as in the morning,
to the ‘Star’ tavern, and drew up on each side for
the Mayor, &c., to pass through them, after which they were
ordered to several houses to supper. All the Corporation,
gentlemen, music, Independent company, and all the town’s
people—men, women, and children—wore cockades in
honour of the day. The evening was concluded with a grand ball,
illuminations, tar-barrels, bonfires, and every demonstration
of joy; and everything was conducted with the greatest order,
regularity, and decency imaginable; tho’ great part of
the neighbouring parishes came in to see the show, there was
not the least disturbance or disorder: the Mayor having several
days before set up advertisements to forbid all sorts of
squibs, crackers, &c.”

During the reign of George III. Penzance prospered, and was
well-to-do. Fish, tin, and copper—ever the staple
commodities of the county—were largely exported. Mining
and the fisheries brought profit and revenue to the town. A
certain toast was not unknown in this loyal and ancient
Borough; it is:—

“Here’s a health to the Pope,
may he live to repent,
And add just six months to the term of his lent;
And tell all his vassals, from Rome to the Poles,
There’s nothing like pilchards for saving their
souls.“

Society was not more refined here than elsewhere in the
earliest part of this reign. Only one newspaper was circulated
in the west then, and that was the Sherborne Mercury. Cock fighting, smuggling,
and intemperance, were not thought of in the same light they
are now. Travelling was usually effected on horseback, and
merchandise was chiefly conveyed in the same manner. The
simplest luxuries in the way of furniture—comforts such
as carpets—were unknown except among the
wealthy,—sanded floors were the rule; and there was not a
silver fork in the town. A certain Mrs. Treweeke, through whose
agency the old Assembly rooms at the back of the Union Hotel
were built, was the first person who possessed a carpet in her
then new house, now occupied by Mr. Prockter. I have heard of a
lady of the old school who called upon a newly-married couple,
and finding them sitting with their feet on a small square of
carpet, which scarcely extended beyond the limits of the table,
exclaimed, “Deary me! are you so tender footed? I expect
I’ll find you sitting with your feet in feather beds, the
next time I call.” Mrs. Treweeke also possessed a
carriage; and so rarely was such a phenomenon seen in this
neighbourhood that I must tell you what happened at St. Ives. A
concert had been announced to take place in that town; and some
of the inhabitants at least must have known as much about
concerts as they did about carriages, for when Mrs. Treweeke
was entering St. Ives, having driven from Penzance in her
vehicle of the period, she was followed by an admiring crowd,
shouting, “The concert is come! the concert is
come!!”†

One fine summer afternoon, in the days when ladies wore
skirts so closely fitting that they scarcely allowed of taking
moderately long steps, this same old lady, a portly dame, was
leisurely crossing the upper part of Market-place towards her
house. It happened to be market-day; and a lusty pig, having
broken the tether which bound him to the Market cross, was
hurrying towards Chapel street as fast as his wayward nature
would let him; but pigs are not famous for running in a
straight line, particularly when they are being chivied by a
fat old farmer, and any number of small boys, so when near Mrs.
Treweeke he suddenly made a dive at her feet, and running his
head between her ankles fairly lifted her off the ground,
carrying her on his back into a china shop which was near; the
old lady keeping her balance however, and holding on with might
and main till she was safely landed on the floor all among the
crockery, much to the dismay of herself and the proprietor, and
to the amusement of the small boys giving chase in
particular.§

The Market Cross, 1825.

I have already told you that we owe to a lady of the time of
Edward III. the first privileges the town possessed. Again the
ladies of Penzance took the initiative in the literary
awakening, which commenced in the latter part of the last
century. The Ladies’ Book Club was established in 1770,
and it is still in existence. The Gentlemen’s Book Club
soon followed and the Grammar school was founded by the
Corporation in 1789. Then several societies—Agricultural,
Provident, Humane, Scientific, and Literary,—amongst them
the Penzance Institute—sprang up in quick succession.

Important changes too soon crowd themselves upon our
attention. New Churches, new Market houses and Guild hall
(since superseded), new Piers, Railway accommodation (we still
want a new Railway Station), Royal visits, and a hundred other
incidents of more or less moment; but for the present the
progress of Penzance has been crowned by the erection of the
noble pile of buildings in which I now have the honour to
address you, wherein Law, Literature, Science, Art, and Music
find a home.

Time, however, will not allow me to dwell further on the
many points which suggest themselves. To remind a Penzance
audience that Sir Humphry Davy was born here is unnecessary;
but inasmuch as I have done little more than hurry past the
time of his birth, I may be excused from dilating upon one
whose fame is world-wide.

And now, having reached times within memory of the present
generation, I must bring my sketch to a close; not without
regret, however at having been able to do little more than
allude to more recent events, and with a keen sense of the
inadequate manner in which I have attempted to give an outline
of the history of my native town,

The greater part of the foregoing List is
extracted from an original MS. in my possession, entitled,
“Memoranda selected from the Archives of the Corporation
of Penzance, by Mr. Thomas Giddy, many years senior Alderman,
and ten times chief Magistrate of that place.“ Mr. Giddy
died in 1825, and the names occurring after that date have been
supplied from the office of the town clerk.

* John Clies, or
Clyes, is mentioned in the charter as the successor of Jahn
Madern in case of the death of the latter before he fulfilled
the office, therefore he was probably the second Mayor; at all
events, he was twice Mayor of Penzance as stated on his
monument in Madron church, and he died on the 27th of November,
1623.

† State of
Society in Mount’s Bay. See Dr. Davy’s Life of Sir Humphry Davy, vol. i., p. 8.
Possibly some of the statements must be taken cum grano.

§ Mrs.
Treweeke and the pig. this somewhat extraordinary story is
vouched for by a person who was living at the time.